“Ensuring environmental sustainability through local government action”
Honourable Deputy Minister of Co-Operative Governance and Traditional Affairs
Honourable Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs
Deputy Chairpersons and CEO of South African Local Government Association (SALGA)
Member of the mayoral committee from the city of Johannesburg
Director-General
Deputy Directors-General
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
We are really humbled by the attendance and thank you sincerely for that.
We have to demystify climate change such that it is something we can relate to as we go along. A matter arose in Italy of climate change being made a priority for government plans. As Africa we disagreed with this as we believe that as developing countries we prioritise the eradication of poverty.
We are gathered here today after we successfully hosted our first MINMEC environment meeting under the new administration. This was a meeting with the various provincial MECs responsible for environmental affairs to discuss priorities for the environmental sector and also to establish areas of commonality between national and provincial spheres of government. As a department at the forefront of ensuring that environmental policy making is responsive to the challenges faced by our people, we have realised that without the support and commitment of the provinces we cannot achieve our objective of ensuring that our people’s right to a clean environment and air will not be achieved.
We have also realised that since municipalities are at the coal-face of service delivery, they are best positioned to champion clean environments and ensure that our people benefit from the various legislations aimed at giving them access to clean and habitable environments. Ladies and gentlemen the time has come for us to prioritise our townships and villages as we embark on these efforts aimed at cleaning and greening our communities. I am extremely concerned about the state of our environment, especially in the townships and other municipality areas like Mthatha and to that end the campaign will focus on the cleanest township and villages.
We need to focus on financial resources that we commit to environmental management if we are to make a difference in our communities. Our understanding is that not enough funding is allocated to environmental management efforts. In the reading of the situation, both the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) and other municipality budget items reflect minimum allocation on environment. This was further confirmed at MINMEC that the situation is similar in provinces. On the other hand, what municipalities get from the rate payers does not seem enough to sustain the management of waste management functions let alone other environmental functions. We as a department are extremely worried that our communities have to live in such squalid conditions that violate their constitutional right to a clean environment.
The time has come for all of us to act. I must also hasten to add that rights are accompanied by responsibilities which also place a degree of responsibility on our communities to be active agents of clean environment. Our clean-up campaigns in collaboration with our partners like indalo yethu and buyisa e Bag aimed at heightening awareness in our communities about the benefits of a clean environment will be intensified.
On Mandela Day this partnership took us to Mamelodi where in close collaboration with the Tshwane Municipality and SABC 1 we engaged in a clean up and tree planting exercise. We have also committed to plant 46664 trees between now and 18 June 2010.
I would like to challenge you as municipalities to prioritise among others waste management and greening of our townships to restore the dignity of our people and in the same vein I urge all communities to be active agents of greening efforts. This is an effort that should also involve partnerships with non-governmental organisation (NGOs) that play in this space of environment.
We must as all the three spheres of government solidify our efforts aimed at forging lasting and working partnerships that will assist us as government in greening our townships.
We need to move away from being a throw away society that focuses on end of pipe waste management solutions that result in huge landfill sites to one which is much more responsible and cognisant of the need to inter alia minimise waste and dispose as a last resort. We want to promote minimization, reuse and recycling.
Following on enactment of the National Environmental Management Waste Act 59 of 2009 three weeks ago, my department together with all stakeholders is developing South Africa’s master plan called the national waste management strategy that will guide us on how we reduce the amount of waste generated, recover materials where possible, recycle and reuse by for example reducing the levels of unauthorised waste management practices across the country, particularly as it relates to use of unauthorised waste disposal facilities or sites.
This act will allow us to drive a recycling economy with the municipalities expected to be central to effective management of waste. This will further contribute to job creation potential with emphasis on waste collection initiatives involving Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise (SMMEs) and recycling businesses. It is our expectation that Municipalities, in tandem with the Act, will have to ensure that communities will have access to separate waste bins that will cater for recyclable and non recyclables. One of the major challenges we are facing is that not everyone has access to refuse removal service and this is a challenge that we must deal with.
We are in the process of developing a basic refuse removal policy that is aimed at those communities that cannot afford waste removal services. We intend to take this policy to Cabinet for approval before the end of the year in order to ensure that every community has access to this basic service irrespective of where they live.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is more than just about access to this basic service; it is also about my department’s role in ensuring that efforts by other organs of the state to build a healthy nation are supported.
Once again, without your involvement as municipalities, our efforts will just remain a pipe dream and may never see the light of day. This calls for alignment between the efforts of the three spheres of government, national, provincial and local governments to ensure that we are able to deliver our people into a future where their right to clean air, fresh water and waste free surroundings are not only legislated, but realised.
There are currently 283 municipalities, most of which bear an environmental function of one form or another. The Department of Environmental Affairs identified the need to hold the national municipal indaba on environment to ensure dialogue amongst spheres of government, state owned enterprise and other relevant stakeholders.
We must over the next two days, look at ensuring that we are able to ensure that this partnership with municipalities is able to:
* identify priorities, key challenges and gaps that affect municipalities with regard to environmental planning and management
* enhance environmental focus in integrated development planning among the three spheres of government
* share the best practise experiences on the various environmental sector priorities
* capacitate municipalities on compliance requirements of existing legislation, policies, strategies and programmes
* gather local government inputs into the support and oversight role on national government on programme implementation.
Realising that the three categories of municipalities have different environmental management responsibilities, it is imperative to ensure that the differing responsibilities are implemented in the most integrated manner and in line with both provincial and national priorities and programmes. During 2007 the erstwhile Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) in consultation with provinces and various municipalities identified the need to develop a common national sector wide strategic implementation plan for the environment sector. This is a plan that outlines high level strategic priorities for the sector over five years (2008 to 2013).
This plan also defines the environment sector from a growth and development perspective. It also provides an agreed strategic direction upon which strategic plans of implicated government components are based on. The sector plan was approved for implementation by MINMEC in August 2007. To ensure alignment with government wide cycle, this plan is currently being reviewed to coincide with the government cycle i.e. 2009 to 2014 and to also design an effective monitoring and evaluation tool. Local government remains critical if not integral in this process.
The then Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG), currently reformed into the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs( DCGTA) initiated a process of analysing Integrated Development Plan (IDPs) whereby all sector departments, non-governmental organisations and state owned enterprises are expected to analyse draft IDPs, identify the gaps and prepare action plans to address the identified gaps. This process has been running since 2006 is supported by five Year Local Government Strategic Agenda (5YLGSA) which was developed to in 2006.
The then Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism has been fully participating in the process and the reports which are produced after participation in the analysis sessions seem to suggest that local government has encountered various challenges in the planning and implementation of environmental programmes.
These challenges include but are not limited to:
* consideration and incorporation of environmental matters in integrated development planning and service delivery which somehow negatively impact on environmental quality and protection
* establishment and implementation of environmental governance system including relevant structures, by-laws and awareness
* development of relevant environmental sector plans such as integrated waste management plans, air quality management plans, integrated coastal management plans (to name but a few)and planning tools that support integrated development planning and sustainable service delivery
* development of relevant strategies, policies and programs to address climate change mitigation and adaptation.
At the heart of all these challenges lie the human and financial capacity constraints which negatively affect the implementation of government programs and policies. Local government is equally affected by the shortage of skills which sometimes result from skills flight from one area to the other or from one sphere of government to the other.
The Department of Environmental Affairs has put in place various pieces of legislation, national frameworks and programmes aimed at promoting sustainable use of natural resources and maximising benefits to all South Africans as per the international, regional and national obligations. It is important to note that the implementation of legislation has implications for local government development planning and service delivery.
Our department is aware that without proper support to local government, a sphere of government that is closest to the people; there will be no improved service delivery that meets the sustainability indicators. With this in mind the department working together with provinces and municipalities has implemented the following programmes:
* deployment of officials in the district, family of municipalities in all provinces. These officials are based in municipalities and they are expected to support municipalities with environmental management and planning matters
* develop the guidelines for the development of air quality management plans
* developed various toolkits including but not limited to IDP and Community Based Natural Resources and conducted capacity building sessions in various part of the country
* the department working with affected municipalities and other partners is involved in the development of air quality monitoring stations
* financially and technically support the development of environmental planning tools such as environmental management frameworks.
It is therefore important to indicate that all of these initiatives were implemented as per the provisions of the five year local government strategic agenda and premised on the spirit of co-operative governance and better life for all.
Beside the vigorous implementation of the support initiatives some challenges as reflected seem to persist and therefore it becomes imperative that we engage on discussion to come up with workable solutions.
We must be reminded that we are all here as representatives of our people who have, without fail, elected the African National Congress (ANC) into office despite the challenges they may be facing in their own communities. We cannot afford to fail them.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Water and Environmental Affairs
22 July 2009
